Socialist deputy María Rodrigo has denounced that "when there are more people in the towns, in the summer, there is less health personnel in the health centers due to the abandonment of Primary Care by the Government of Aragon". In her opinion, the regional Executive is once again reaching the summer season without having resolved the medical coverage problems in rural areas.
Rodrigo recalled that "this situation has been reached due to abandonment and paralysis, because it has been a year since the Government of Aragon approved a decree of extraordinary measures with the promise of improving coverage for hard-to-fill positions, but we are once again facing another summer without planning, without doctors, and without responses from Azcón's government". For the deputy, the time elapsed shows that the promised measures have not been effectively applied.
The socialist spokesperson in the Health Commission has insisted on her concern about the lack of planning by the Government of Aragon, which is facing the summer without a clear strategy to guarantee the presence of health personnel in health centers. As she explained, this lack of foresight is causing reductions in hours and temporary closures of consultations. "The part of the decree intended to strengthen Primary Care remains unfulfilled, and the Government intends to continue announcing new measures without having developed or evaluated those it approved a year ago," she said.
In her opinion, the "neglect and paralysis" of the PP-Vox Executive translates into cuts and temporary closures of consultations in the three Aragonese provinces. She pointed out that "family doctor positions have been eliminated in health centers such as Almudévar, Bujaraloz, or Ayerbe, reducing healthcare capacity and increasing the workload of the professionals who remain," which, she stressed, directly affects patient care.
"To the problem of the disappearance of positions are added those derived from the summer organization, as many municipalities are reducing consultations or temporarily closing clinics." As an example, she cited the situation in Sobrarbe, where the consultations in Laspuña, Boltaña, and Tierrantona will close for 5 to 7 days between July and August; or towns like Torrevelilla and other towns in Teruel in Matarraña or Bajo Martín, including La Puebla de Híjar and Samper de Calanda, "where there are fewer and fewer doctors."
Rodrigo added that in Seira, the closure of the clinic forces residents to travel to receive healthcare; in La Puebla de Roda, the medical consultation has gone from being offered several days a week to "only one day a week"; and in Pedrola, the pediatric consultation has been suspended for the entire summer, forcing many families to go to other municipalities so their children can be seen.
"There is a structural problem in primary care, a problem that is aggravated precisely when Aragon enters the period of greatest healthcare demand of the year," considered María Rodrigo, who has warned of "a summer marked by the shortage of family doctors, difficulties in covering vacations, reduced activity in local clinics, and a professional mobility process initiated at the worst possible moment, generating even more uncertainty in healthcare organization."
For the parliamentarian, "Jorge Azcón's government can no longer talk about extraordinary measures or temporary solutions. It has had enough time to develop the decree, evaluate its results, and strengthen Primary Care, and it has not done so." Rodrigo has censured the "improvisation" and the diversion of activity towards private healthcare, and has defended the need to plan in advance, train, attract, and retain professionals, improve their working conditions, and protect Primary Care as a basic pillar of the Aragonese healthcare system.